South Georgia - In The Game High School Sports Magazine

Former Assistant Returns to Help Build Team into a Program

The Lanier County Bulldogs are one of the younger football programs in South Georgia. In an area where football is king, Lakeland was different. Baseball and basketball ruled the local sports scene, almost literally the only games in town.  In 1998, Lanier fielded its varsity squad. In the ensuing 12 years, results have been mixed. The Bulldogs have made the playoffs twice, including once in a 1-10 season, and have few winning seasons about which to brag.

But second-year head coach Wade Beale hopes to turn things around. Beale was in Lanier when the program began.  He was an assistant under former head coach Mike Pittman and came back to Lanier in 2009 with a good understanding of the community and the school.  He hopes his previous experience at Lanier, coupled with his experience turning around lagging programs at other schools, will transform Lanier into a Region 2-A contender.

Beale graduated from Forest High in Jacksonville, Florida, where he played football and baseball. He went to Central Florida Community College and played first base for the Patriots. After his time at Central Florida was up, he enrolled at Newberry and played tight end on the football team.

Beale always knew he wanted to be a coach. He set his plan into motion when, after graduating from college, he took a job as a graduate assistant at Western Kentucky. Unable to afford off-campus housing on a graduate assistant’s salary, the newly married Beale and his wife, Susan, left before his college coaching career could begin. Beale headed for the high school ranks from there.

Beale’s first high school job was an assistant position at Live Oak in Florida. After a few years, he took a head coaching position at Wolfson High in Jacksonville, Florida, where, at 27, he became the youngest 5A head coach in Florida. He returned to Live Oak after four years to work under Pittman. Beale was a part of four straight state titles at Live Oak. From there he went to Lanier, then took head coaching turns at Chamblee High, Sprayberry High and Mount Dora in Florida before going back to Lanier.

Beale has 31 years of coaching experience, 19 as head coach. He has helped turn around several of the programs he’s been to, specifically Chamblee  and  Mount  Dora.  After  going  many  years  without   a   winning    record,

Chamblee enjoyed three winning seasons in a row soon after Beale arrived. “Mount Dora had lost 24 straight games when we got there. We went 8-4 and made the playoffs,” Beale recalls.

Beale and his wife enjoyed Mount Dora.  He was in a good situation but something was missing. He wanted to spend time with his grandchildren, something he hadn’t been able to do in Florida. When the head coaching position at Lanier became available, he jumped at the opportunity to be close to his family again. “My wife is from Lanier County and two of my sons live here. It was getting to the point that I didn’t get see my grandkids but about twice a year. Susan and I talked about it. We decided if we were going to move, now would be the time,” he says. The Lanier County Board of Education awarded him the job and he accepted. “Now I get to see my grandchildren every day.”

Beale knows that establishing a winning program is difficult, especially in a community not noted for its football prowess. He’s committed to turning the program around and he’d like to see it happen very quickly. Signs of improvement are already there, in spite of a difficult 2009 season. In Beale’s first year, the Bulldogs went 3-7 overall and 1-3 in the region. Only five of the 22 projected seniors in 2009 ended up playing. The Bulldogs pressed on, making the most of a difficult situation. “The biggest thing we’ve had to overcome is the status quo. We’ve had some good athletes but they’ve always been satisfied with staying where they are. Our program has never had a kid sign a football scholarship. Now we’ve got three Division I prospects,” says Beale.

In past years, players would show up right before school started in August and expect to play. They didn’t worry about summer workouts and didn’t focus on being in shape. Beale is changing that. “This year, we have about 40 kids on our varsity roster and 29 have made 85 percent of our offseason workouts. Last year, our group didn’t buy into what we were doing,” he says.

The players benefit from participating in other sports at Lanier. In a small school, athletes play multiple sports to fill team rosters. “Our coaches work together so our kids can play all the sports they want,” Beale says.

One of the biggest challenges Beale faces is how upcoming players occupy their time, or rather, how they don’t. “Kids used to get out and play. It was baseball and basketball in the summer and football in the fall. Now, kids play video games. They don’t get out and play anymore. When I was growing up, I always had a ball in my hand. Now when you drive by the parks in the summer, they’re empty,” he says.

Having been on the winning side of four state titles, Beale knows that great athletes can win championships.  He also knows that any group of dedicated, stubborn, physical and hard-working athletes can go all the way. That’s a lesson any team, especially one lacking a deep winning tradition, should learn. “Those kids in Live Oak were hard-nosed, physical players. They worked hard and put a lot into everything they did,” says Beale.

Beale’s football career started in college, but he has no desire to make a return to the college game. He’s been at the high school level for 31 years and that’s where he plans to stay. He would like to coach another 10 or 12 years, and he hopes those remaining years will be in Lanier County. “This is my last stop, footballwise. I want to get this program on the ground and winning consistently. We also need to get the recreation league and the middle school program on the same page,” he says.

When Beale isn’t coaching or spending time with his grandchildren, he likes to ride his motorcycle, a Kawasaki Nomad 1600. “I have a passion for motorcycles. That’s my stress relief. My wife loves to ride, too. We get on there, just cruise and forget about everything,” he says. •

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